we came from community medicine, the most benign, duty-less, beach-filled rotation in the med school universe. to plunge head-first into ob-gyne - it's exact opposite - is... well, less than thrilling. but what was i to do, right?

it turns out ob *can* be fun. how?

first, get an awesome duty team. for us, it's not a choice. you're assigned groupmates. i was placed in team 3 with geno (someone i've never had a duty with) and joy (the most toxic person on earth second only to glai). needless to say, i was nervous. i'd gotten used to working with other people, namely mel, joseph, kathy, roan, reci, mamer, glai, etc. all of whom were no longer in my block. i never had a single duty with geno despite being his blockmate for 2 years. and joy was... toxic. and we all know that ob + toxic magnet = disaster. plus, we had a senior intern in our team, rj, someone i did not know at all, and a spanking-new batch of clerks: cheska, sara, bin, gen and mac. yikes, shifting dullness for all. but i was wrong. our combination was actually good. my three co-interns and five clerks were so much fun to be with that i actually *GASP* looked forward to duties. despite the toxicity of intubated patients, giant pregnant mommies with obesity 5 (harhar), simultaneously admitting 4 patients, fasting for 24 hours, running codes, i had a lot of fun because we were fun. ob became fun. and i owe it to them. :)

second, make lots of bloopers/jokes, and spend most of your time laughing at them. call a patient's name only to realize that you're screaming her address (i.e. "sino si bocaue, bulacan?"). realize that you're not getting any arterial blood because your palpation of the radial artery is actually compressing it. tell mommy to take off all her "accessories" (meaning jewelry, false teeth, hair clips/ties) before entering the labor room. congratulating your blockmate because "her" pregnancy test turned out positive. asking your patient 20 questions to figure which male intern interviewed her. maitim? maputi? mataba? payat? matangkad? may salamin? wala? gwapo (my fave)? sigh, and somehow, we always get it wrong in the end.

third, play around. dance to "nobody" each time your OOD's phone rings. sing cheesy karaoke songs while on labor watch. ride a wheelchair up and down the obas corridor just for the heck of it. substitute maroon 5 songs for the annoying bell when you get areas of reduced variability. stamp your co-intern's trodat on everything you can get your hands on. talk. always find time to talk about anything and everything, right joy?

fourth, eat. be it during a toxic obas duty, during a ward duty (where we ALWAYS eat lunch, dinner and midnight snacks together), or lrdr duty, we find time to stuff ourselves. never again will we go on a 24-hour fast. ugh.

fifth, make new (and old) friends. i made eight. and even if we've gone our separate ways, we still find time to talk/text/visit.


thanks guys. you made ob a hell of an experience. shift-out party, anyone? ;)